October 2

Dear Tara*Starr,

I love my new name! And I love being the Stars or Star-Twins or Star-Friends or *Friends, but mostly I just like being friends, which I’m glad we still are. I’m glad we’re over our letter-fight. (If our parents would just let us talk, we probably could have cleared things up even more quickly.)

Well, I PROMISED I would tell you about my dad, so here goes. Remember when I said he hasn’t been home before 11:00 for a week? Well, that was a whole week ago, and he still hasn’t come home before 11:00, so now that makes two weeks. And one night I don’t know what time he came home because it was so long after 11:00 that I guess I was sound asleep.

I know, I know. You’re thinking that he probably didn’t come home until the morning, but I’m sure he did. When he left for work, Mom asked him if he would try to get home before four. And somehow I just knew she meant get home before four in the morning, not four in the afternoon, like she sometimes used to ask him to do if we were going out to dinner together or something. What could my dad possibly be doing every night until 11:00 or 4:00?

You asked if it was something or someone. (Only you would ask me that.) And I thought about it, and I really think it’s something. Don’t ask me why. I just have a feeling.

Guess what. Mom asked me to play with Emma today while she went downtown. I said okay because of course I have no friends and no life since you’ve gone, so I have nothing to do but homework. (Oh, and I started a new cross-stitch project.) Anyway, Emma asked for some apple juice, so I went to the pantry, and guess what I found behind all the juice and seltzer and stuff. Four big bottles of vodka. I mean those really big bottles, like gallons or something. That’s a lot, isn’t it? Maybe Mom and Dad are going to have a party, but they usually tell me so ahead of time. If those bottles aren’t for a party, well, I don’t know. My stomach felt all cold and watery when I saw them.

So, Tara, tell me about some of the kids in your school. Are there any potential friends? Do you ever see the boy whose future you predicted on the first day of school? Are there any normal kids? Are there any other new kids you could hook up with? Like, maybe you could join together and form a group of your own … all the new kids. Hey, maybe Ms. Heartburn or whatever has a daughter at the school. You could become her new best friend and get on Ms. Heartburn’s good side.

Well, here’s Emma. I think she wants to add something to the letter. I better give her a new page.